A growing number of low-cost computing devices may be deployed as servers in Internet Portal Data Centers (IPDCs). IPDCs typically configure large numbers of low-cost servers to do massively parallel activities. In order to keep costs low for these types of servers, a kind of management controller known as a baseboard management controller (BMC) may not be included. A BMC is typically installed as a separate controller chip or device and is used to communicate with and/or carry out commands received from a remote management application.